Looking forward to a good year here too! Just curious, do you think grouse follow the same cyclic pattern across the country at the same time? By that I mean if we're (meaning Great Lakes region) experiencing a trend toward the upswing peak, do others say in a different region like the western states experience the same point in cycle or are they possibly in the downward swing in population? LOL, guess I'm bored...

I heard a lot of them fishing some flowages in the national forests this year and even more along the forest roads so yes it should be the year to walk the woods. With most of the small streams and potholes full in the woods this year the grouse are everywhere.

Don't know about western states cycle with the grouse they have .Ours is pretty much a 10 year cycle , nobody has figured the reason out for sure .Sure is nice when on the up swing , have to get after it when ya can !Yum Yum !

Have a few guys come up from Tennessee every year and stay by my place for two weeks , they have dogs .The last 5 or 6 years they don't hunt their usually area's because of all the wolves.

Rivers I have property outside Solon. Been seeing a bunch. The grouse cycle is based on the supply and demand theory. The more predators the less birds. As the predator oods supply dwindles so does the survival rate of their young. As the predator population wanes the grouse population increases.

I won't totally say is based on less predators = more grouse or more grouse = more predators , our predators are mostly always high , the grouse do a 10 year cycle no matter where the predator population is at .

It will be a banner year for sure .Last year, took over 60 birds , should top that this year .

No, never been to Wisconsin. Dad and some friends have been going up there for the past 15 years. All I know is it's somewhere central in the state. It's near where they make St. Croix fishing rods. They go early Oct. for a week. Then go back first of November. Dad says Wisconsin can make some good bird dogs. Looking forward to it. Dad has some good dogs.

Sounds like you'll be in the Park Falls area .Some of the best fishing rods made are from there , St. Croix Rods .If they have been going there that long , they know the ropes .It's more northern than central, a ways south of me .Bear hunting will be almost over by that first week in October. You can go on the WI DNR site and look up wolf depration reports in the area you'll be hunting in .There will be many more reported by then as the bear season progress .Just steer clear of them hot spots .

Yes, dad says the second trip they run into hound hunters quite a bit. He said one group is pretty interesting. They told him they look for any track; bear, cat, wolf. They said if more than one wolf they want turn loose. In all the years they only lost one dog. They day they got back to NC someone had found their bird dog. They loaded up and made the drive back to get it. And I'm going to work some OT before I go and get a rod or two.

I've had a couple years like that, but you gotta' spend a lot of time in the woods to shoot that many. You must have some good dog(s) and spend a lot of time with them in the brush.

This year I'll be working w/ a pointer that's not even a year old yet. But, that's OK...for me it's about the dog work and Wilma should get plenty of opportunities this fall. A good year to train a pup.

Just picked up a new gsp puppy, he is riding 3.5 hours back home on my lap as I type this!!I only made it a week without a dog! I miss my hunter but this puppy breath makes it a lot better! There should be a good amount of birds this year after another mild winter!